Publications

On this page, you’ll find all my scientific articles, arranged in chronological order with the most recent ones on top. If you are interested in a particular topic, you can use the following keywords:

Character
Grit
Intervention
Measurement
Self-control

All Publications

Gross, J. J., & Duckworth, A. L. (2021). Beyond willpower. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 44, e37. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X20000722.
Milkman, K. L., Patel, M. S., Gandhi, L., Graci, H. N., Gromet, D. M., Ho, H., Kay, J. S., Lee, T. W., Akinola, M., Beshears, J., Bogard, J. E., Buttenheim, A., Chabris, C. F., Chapman, G. B., Choi, J. J., Dai, H., Fox, C. R., Goren, A., Hilchey, M. D., . . . Duckworth, A. L. (2021). A megastudy of text-based nudges encouraging patients to get vaccinated at an upcoming doctor’s appointment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(20), e2101165118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2101165118.
Southwick, D. A., Tsay, C. J., & Duckworth, A. L. (2021). Grit at work. Research in Organizational Behavior, 39(2019), 100126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.riob.2020.100126.
Duckworth, A. L., & Gross, J. J. (2020). Behavior change. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 161, 39-49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.09.002.
Galla, B. M., Tsukayama, E., Yu, A., Park, D., & Duckworth, A. L. (2020). The mindful adolescent: Developmental changes in nonreactivity to inner experiences and its association with emotional well-being. Developmental Psychology, 56(2), 350-363. doi:10.1037/dev0000877.
Gardner, M., Hutt, S. J., Kamentz, D., Duckworth, A. L. & D’Mello, S. K. (2020). How does high school extracurricular participation predict bachelor’s degree attainment? It is complicated. Journal of Research on Adolescence. doi:10.1111/jora.12557.
Gruber, J., Mendle, J., Lindquist, K. A., Schmader, T., Clark, L. A., Bliss-Moreau, E., Akinola, M., Atlas, L., Barch, D. M., Feldman Barrett, L., Borelli, J. L., Brannon, T. N., Bunge, S. A., Campos, B., Cantlon, J., Carter, R., Carter-Sowell, A. R., Chen, S., Craske, M. G., . . . Williams, L. A. (2020). The future of women in psychological science. Perspectives on Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620952789.
Kirgios, E. L., Mandel, G. H., Park, Y., Milkman, K. L., Gromet, D. M., Kay, J. S., & Duckworth, A. L. (2020). Teaching temptation bundling to boost exercise: A field experiment. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 161, 20-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.09.003.
Mehr, K. S., Geiser, A. E., Milkman, K. L., & Duckworth, A. L. (2020). Copy-paste prompts: A new nudge to promote goal achievement. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 5(3), 329-334. doi:10.1086/708880.
Park, D., Tsukayama, E., Yu, A., & Duckworth, A. L. (2020). The development of grit and growth mindset in adolescence. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 198, 104889. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104889.
Porter, T., Molina, D. C., Blackwell, L., Roberts, S., Quirk, A., Duckworth, A. L., & Trzesniewski, K. (2020). Measuring mastery behaviors at scale: The Persistence, Effort, Resilience and Challenge-Seeking task (PERC). Journal of Learning Analytics, 7(1), 5-18. doi:10.18608/jla.2020.71.2.
Rege, M., Hanselman, P., Solli, I. F., Dweck, C. S., Ludvigsen, S., Bettinger, E., Crosnoe, R., Muller, C., Walton, G., Duckworth, A. L., & Yeager, D. S. (2020). How can we inspire nations of learners? Investigating growth mindset and challenge-seeking in two countries. American Psychologist. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000647.
Spann, C. A., Yu, A., Galla, B. M., Duckworth, A. L. & D’Mello, S. K. (2020). Is academic diligence domain-specific or domain-general? An investigation of the math, verbal, and spatial Academic Diligence Tasks with middle schoolers. Learning and Individual Differences. 80, Article 101870, doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2020.101870.
Zamarro, G., Nichols, M., Duckworth, A. L., & D’Mello, S. K. (2020). Validation of survey effort measures of grit and self-control in a sample of high school students. PLOS One, 15(7), e0235396. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0235396.
Chang, E. H., Milkman, K. L. Gromet, D. M., Rebele, R. W., Massey, C., Duckworth, A. L., & Grant, A. M. (2019). The mixed effects of online diversity training. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(16), 7778-7783. doi:10.1073/pnas.1816076116.
Duckworth, A. L. (2019). Self-reports spur self-reflection. MIT Sloan Management Review.
Duckworth, A. L. (2019). Using psychological science to help children thrive. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 14(1), 34-36.
Duckworth, A. L., Milkman, K. L., & Laibson, D. (2019). Beyond willpower: Strategies for reducing failures of self-control. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(3), 102-129.
Duckworth, A. L., Quirk, A. Gallop, R., Hoyle, R. H., Kelly, D. R., & Matthews, M. D. (2019). Cognitive and noncognitive predictors of success. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(47), 23499-23504. doi:10.1073/pnas.1910510116.
Duckworth, A. L., Taxer, J. Eskreis-Winkler, L., Galla, B. M., & Gross, J. J. (2019). Self-control and academic achievement. Annual Review of Psychology, 70, 373-399.
Eskreis-Winkler, L., Milkman, K. L., Gromet, D. M., & Duckworth, A. L. (2019). A large-scale field experiment shows giving advice improves academic outcomes for the advisor. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(30), 14808-14810. doi:110.1073/pnas.1908779116.
Galla, B. M., Shulman, E. P., Plummer, B. D., Gardner, M., Hutt, S. J., Goyer, J. P., … & Duckworth, A. L. (2019). Why high school grades are better predictors of on-time college graduation than are admissions test scores: The roles of self-regulation and cognitive ability. American Educational Research Journal, 56(6), 2077-2115. doi:10.3102/0002831219843292.
Grenell, A., Prager, E. O., Schaefer, C., Kross, E., Duckworth, A. L., & Carlson, S. M. (2019). Individual differences in the effectiveness of self-distancing for young children’s emotion regulation. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 37(1), 84-100. doi:10.1111/bjdp.12259.
Grenell, A., White, R. E., Prager, E. O., Schaefer, C., Kross, E., Duckworth, A. L., Carlson, S. M. (2019). Experimental paradigm for measuring the effects of self-distancing in young children. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 145, e59056. doi:10.3791/59056.
Hutt, S. J., Gardner, M., Duckworth, A. L., D’Mello, S. K. (2019). Evaluating fairness and generalizability in models predicting on-time graduation from college applications. In C. F. Lynch, A. Merceron, M. Desmarais, & R. Nkambou (Eds.), Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2019) (pp. 79-88).
Peña, P. A., Pérez-Díaz, I., Pulido-Ayala, A. K., Osorio-Landa, H. K., López-Navarro, J. M., Duckworth, A. L., & Jena, A. B. (2019). Association of grit scores with treatment adherence and biomarkers in patients with type 2 diabetes. JAMA Network Open, 2(9), e1911476. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.11476.
Yeager, D. S., Hanselman, P., Walton, G. M., Murray, J. S., Crosnoe, R., Muller, C., … Dweck, C. S. (2019). A national experiment reveals where a growth mindset improves achievement. Nature, 573, 364-369. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1466-y.
Duckworth, A. L., & Meindl, P. (2018). Clarifying character education. Journal of Character Education, 14(2), 37-39.
Eskreis-Winkler, L., Fishbach, A., & Duckworth, A. L. (2018). Dear Abby: Should I give advice or receive it?. Psychological Science, (29)11, 1797-1806. doi:10.1177/0956797618795472.
Hutt, S., Gardner, M., Kamentz, D., Duckworth, A. L., & D’Mello, S. K. (2018). Prospectively predicting 4-year college graduation from student applications. In S. Buckingham Shum, R. Ferguson, A. Merceron & X Ochoa (Eds.). Proceedings of the 8th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference (LAK’18).
Lee, T.H., & Duckworth, A. L. (2018). Organizational grit. Harvard Business Review, 96(5), 98-105.
Meindl, P., Yu, A., Galla, B. M., Quirk, A., Haeck, C., Goyer, J. P., ... & Duckworth, A. L. (2018). A brief behavioral measure of frustration tolerance predicts academic achievement immediately and two years later. Emotion, 19(6), 1081-1092. doi:10.1037/emo0000492.
Park, D., Yu, A., Baelen, R. N., Tsukayama, E., Duckworth, A. L. (2018). Fostering grit: Perceived school goal-structure predicts growth in grit and grades. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 55, 120-128. doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2018.09.007.
Park, D., Yu, A., Metz, S. E., Tsukayama, E., Crum, A., & Duckworth, A. L. (2018). Beliefs about stress attenuate the relation among adverse life events, perceived distress, and self-control. Child Development, 89(6), 2059-2069.
Peña, P. & Duckworth, A. (2018). The effects of relative and absolute age in the measurement of grit from 9th to 12th grade. Economics of Education Review, 66, 183–190.
Robinson, C. D., Pons G., Duckworth, A. L., & Rogers, T. (2018). Some middle school students want behavior commitment devices (but take-up does not affect their behavior). Frontiers in Psychology. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00206.
White, R. E., Kuehn, M. M., Duckworth, A. L., Kross, E., & Ayduk, Ö. (2018). Focusing on the future from afar: Self-distancing from future stressors facilitates adaptive coping. Emotion. doi:10.1037/emo0000491.
Wiese, C. W., Tay, L., Duckworth, A. L., D’Mello, S., Kuykendall, L., Hofmann, W., ... & Vohs, K. D. (2018). Too much of a good thing? Exploring the inverted-U relationship between self-control and happiness. Journal of Personality, (86)3, 380-396.
D’Mello, S. K., Dieterle, E., & Duckworth, A. L. (2017). Advanced, Analytic, Automated (AAA) measurement of engagement during learning. Educational Psychologist, 52(2), 104–123.
Duckworth, A. L. & Seligman, M. (2017). The science and practice of self-control. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12(5), 715–718.
Park, D., Tsukayama, E., Goodwin, G. P., Patrick, S., & Duckworth, A. L. (2017). A tripartite taxonomy of character: Evidence for intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intellectual competencies in children. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 48, 16-27.
Duckworth, A. L., Gendler, T. S., & Gross, J. J. (2016). Situational strategies for self-control. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(1), 35-55.
Duckworth, A. L., White, R. E., Matteucci, A. J., Shearer, A., & Gross, J. J. (2016). A stitch in time: Strategic self-control in high school and college students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(3), 329-341.
Eskreis-Winkler, L., Gross, J. J., & Duckworth, A. L. (2016). Grit: Sustained self-regulation in the service of superordinate goals. In K. D. Vohs & R. F. Baumeister (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory and applications (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford.
Eskreis-Winkler, L., Shulman, E. P., Young, V., Tsukayama, E., Brunwasser, S. M. & Duckworth, A. L. (2016). Using wise interventions to motivate deliberate practice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111(5), 728-744.
Galla, B. M., Baelen, R. N., Duckworth, A. L., & Baime, M. J. (2016). Mindfulness, meet self-regulation: Boosting out-of-class meditation practice with brief action plans. Motivation Science 2(4), 220–237.
White, R. E., Prager, E. O., Schaefer, C., Kross, E., Duckworth, A. L., & Carlson, S. M. (2016). The “Batman Effect”: Improving perseverance in young children. Child Development, 88(5), 1563-1571. doi:0.1111/cdev.12695.
Yeager, D. S., Walton, G. M., Brady, S. T., Akcinar, E. N., Paunesku, D., Keane, L., . . . Dweck, C. S. (2016). Teaching a lay theory before college narrows achievement gaps at scale. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(24), E3341–E3348.
Duckworth, A. L., & Eskreis-Winkler, L. (2015). Grit. In J. D. Wright (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences (2nd ed., pp. 397-401). Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
Duckworth, A. L., & Steinberg, L. (2015). Unpacking self-control. Child Development Perspectives, 9(1), 32-37.
Duckworth, A. L., & Tsukayama, E. (2015). Domain-specificity in self-control. In C. Miller, R. M. Furr, A. Knobel, & W. Fleeson (Eds.), Character: New directions from philosophy, psychology, and theology (pp. 393-411). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Duckworth, A. L., & Yeager, D. S. (2015). Measurement matters: Assessing personal qualities other than cognitive ability for educational purposes. Educational Researcher, 44(4), 237-251.
Duckworth, A. L., Eichstaedt, J., & Ungar, L. (2015). The mechanics of human achievement. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 9(7), 359-369.
Duckworth, A. L., Shulman, E. P., Mastronarde, A. J., Patrick, S. D., Zhang, J., & Druckman, J. (2015). Will not want: Self-control rather than motivation explains the female advantage in report card grades. Learning and Individual Differences, 39, 13-23.
Galla, B. M., & Duckworth, A. L. (2015). More than resisting temptation: Beneficial habits mediate the relationship between self-control and positive life outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109(3), 508-525.
Kaufman, S. B., & Duckworth, A. L. (2015). World-class expertise: A developmental model. WIREs: Cognitive Science. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1365.
West, M. R., Kraft, M. A., Finn, A. S., Martin, R., Duckworth, A. L., Gabrieli, C. F. O., & Gabrieli. J. D. E. (2015). Promise and paradox: Measuring students’ non-cognitive skills and the impact of schooling. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 38(1), 148-170.
White, R. E., Kross, E., & Duckworth, A. L. (2015). Spontaneous self-distancing and adaptive self-reflection across adolescence. Child Development, 86(4), 1272–1281.
Duckworth, A. L., Gendler, T. S, & Gross, J. J. (2014). Self-control in school-age children. Educational Psychologist, 49(3), 199-217.
Duckworth, A., & Gross, J. J. (2014). Self-control and grit: Related but separable determinants of success. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(5), 319-325.
Eisenberg, N., Duckworth, A. L., Spinrad, T. L., & Valiente, C. (2014). Conscientiousness: Origins in childhood?. Developmental Psychology, 50(5), 1331-1349. doi:10.1037/a0030977.
Eskreis-Winkler, L., Duckworth, A. L., Shulman, E., & Beal, S. (2014). The grit effect: Predicting retention in the military, the workplace, school and marriage. Frontiers in Psychology, 5(36), 1-12. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00036.
Eskreis-Winkler, L., Shulman, E. P., Beal, S. & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). Survivor mission: Why those who survive have a drive to thrive at work. Journal of Positive Psychology, 9(3), 209-218.
Friedman, H. S., Kern, M. L., Hampson, S. E., & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). A new lifespan approach to conscientiousness and health: Combining the pieces of the causal puzzle. Developmental Psychology, 50(5), 1377-1389.
Galla, B. M., Plummer, B. D., White, R., Meketon, D., D'Mello, S. K., & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). The Academic Diligence Task (ADT): Assessing individual differences in effort on tedious but important schoolwork. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 39(4), 314-325.
Plummer, B. D., Galla, B. M., Finn, A., Patrick, S. D., Meketon, D., Leonard, J., ... & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). A behind-the-scenes guide to school-based research. Mind, Brain, and Education, 8(1), 15-20.
Robertson-Kraft, C. & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). True grit: Trait-level perseverance and passion for long-term goals predicts effectiveness and retention among novice teachers. Teachers College Record, 116(3), 1-27.
Von Culin, K., Tsukayama, E. & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). Unpacking grit: Motivational correlates of perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Positive Psychology, 9(4), 306-312.
Yeager, D. S., Henderson, M., Paunesku, D., Walton, G., Spitzer, B., D’Mello, S., & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). Boring but important: A self-transcendent purpose for learning fosters academic self-regulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107(4), 559-580.
Duckworth, A. L. (2013). Is it really self-control: A critical analysis of the “Marshmallow Test.”. Society of Personality and Social Psychology Connections. Retrieved from https://spsptalks.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/is-it-really-self-control-a-critical-analysis-of-the-marshmallow-test/.
Duckworth, A. L. & Eskreis-Winkler, L. (2013). True grit. The Observer, 26(4), 1-3.
Duckworth, A. L., & Carlson, S. M. (2013). Self-regulation and school success. In B.W. Sokol, F.M.E. Grouzet, & U. Müller (Eds.), Self-regulation and autonomy: Social and developmental dimensions of human conduct (pp. 208-230). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Duckworth, A. L., Kim, B., & Tsukayama, E. (2013). Life stress impairs self-control in early adolescence. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 3(608), 1-12.
Duckworth, A. L., Kirby, T., Gollwitzer, A., & Oettingen, G. (2013). From fantasy to action: Mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII) improves academic performance in children. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4(6), 745-753.
Duckworth, A. L., Tsukayama, E., & Kirby, T. (2013). Is it really self-control? Examining the predictive power of the delay of gratification task. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(7), 843-855.
Kern, P., Duckworth, A. L., Urzua, S., Loeber, R., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., & Lynam, D. (2013). Do as you’re told! Facets of agreeableness and early adult outcomes for inner-city boys. Journal of Research in Personality, 47(6), 795-799.
Kurzban, R., Duckworth, A. L., Kable, J. W., & Myers, J. (2013). An opportunity cost model of subjective effort and task performance. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36(6), 661-726.
Tsukayama, E., Duckworth, A. L., & Kim, B. (2013). Domain-specific impulsivity in school-age children. Developmental Science, 16(6), 879-893.
Duckworth, A. L. & Allred, K. M. (2012). Temperament in the classroom. In R. L. Shiner & M. Zentner (Eds.), Handbook of temperament (pp. 627-644). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Duckworth, A. L., Quinn, P., Tsukayama, E. (2012). What No Child Left Behind leaves behind: The roles of IQ and self-control in predicting standardized achievement test scores and report card grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104(2), 439-451.
Duckworth, A. L., Weir, D., Tsukayama, E., & Kwok, D. (2012). Who does well in life? Conscientious adults excel in both objective and subjective success. Frontiers in Psychology, 3(356), 1-8.
Tsukayama, E., Duckworth, A. L., & Kim, B. (2012). Resisting everything except temptation: Evidence and an explanation for domain-specific impulsivity. European Journal of Personality, 26(3), 318-334. doi:10.1002/per.841.
Almlund, M., Duckworth, A. L., Heckman, J., & Kautz, T. (2011). Personality psychology and economics. In E.A. Hanushek, S. Machin & L. Woessmann (Eds.), Handbook of the economics of education (Vol. 4., pp. 1-181). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier.
Duckworth, A. L. (2011). The significance of self-control. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(7), 2639-2640.
Duckworth, A. L. & Kern, M. L. (2011). A meta-analysis of the convergent validity of self-control measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 45(3), 259-268.
Duckworth, A. L., Grant, H., Loew, B., Oettingen, G. & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2011). Self-regulation strategies improve self-discipline in adolescents: Benefits of mental contrasting and implementation intentions . Educational Psychology: An International Journal of Experimental Educational Psychology, 31(1), 17-26.
Duckworth, A. L., Kirby, T., Tsukayama, E., Berstein, H., Ericsson, K. (2011). Deliberate practice spells success: Why grittier competitors triumph at the National Spelling Bee. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2, 174-181.
Duckworth, A. L., Quinn, P. D., Lynam, D. R., Loeber, R., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (2011). Role of test motivation in intelligence testing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(19), 7716-7720.
Gollwitzer, A., Oettingen, G., Kirby, T. & Duckworth, A. L. (2011). Mental contrasting facilitates academic performance in school children. Motivation and Emotion, 35(4), 403-412.
Kross, E., Duckworth, A. L., Ayduk, O., Tsukayama, E., & Mischel, W. (2011). The effect of self-distancing on adaptive versus maladaptive self-reflection in children. Emotion, 11(5), 1032-1039.
Roberts, B., Jackson, J., Duckworth, A. L., Von Culin, K. (2011). Personality measurement and assessment in large panel surveys. Forum for Health Economics & Policy, 14(3), 1-32.
Duckworth, A. L., Tsukayama, E., & Geier, A. B. (2010). Self-controlled children stay leaner in the transition to adolescence. Appetite, 54(2), 304-308.
Duckworth, A. L., Tsukayama, E., & May, H. (2010). Establishing causality using longitudinal hierarchical linear modeling: An illustration predicting achievement from self-control. Social Psychology and Personality Science, 1(4), 311-317.
Romer, D., Duckworth, A. L., Sznitman, S., & Park, S. (2010). Can adolescents learn self-control? Delay of gratification in the development of control over risk taking. Prevention Science, 11(3), 319-330.
Tsukayama, E., Duckworth, A. L. (2010). Domain-specific temporal discounting and temptation. Judgment and Decision Making, 5(2), 72-82.
Tsukayama, E., Toomey, S. L., Faith, M., & Duckworth, A. L. (2010). Self-control as a protective factor against overweight status in the transition to adolescence. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 164(7), 631-635.
Duckworth, A. L. (2009). (Over and) beyond high-stakes testing. American Psychologist, 64(4), 279-280.
Duckworth, A. L. & Quinn, P. D. (2009). Development and validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S). Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(2), 166-174.
Duckworth, A. L., Quinn, P. D., & Seligman, M.E.P. (2009). Positive predictors of teacher effectiveness. Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(6), 540-547.
MacCann, C., Duckworth, A. L., & Roberts, R. (2009). Empirical identification of the major facets of conscientiousness. Learning and Individual Differences, 19(4), 451-458.
Borghans, L., Duckworth, A. L., Heckman, J. J., & ter Weel, B. (2008). The economics and psychology of personality traits. Journal of Human Resources, 43(4), 972-1059.
Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087-1101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087.
Duckworth, A. L. & Seligman, M. E. P. (2006). Self-discipline gives girls the edge: Gender differences in self-discipline, grades, and achievement test scores. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98(1), 198-208.
Duckworth, A. L. & Seligman, M. E. P. (2005). Self-discipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic performance of adolescents. Psychological Science, 16(12), 939-944.
Duckworth, A. L., Steen, T. A., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2005). Positive psychology in clinical practice. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1(1), 629-651.

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All Publications

Gross, J. J., & Duckworth, A. L. (2021). Beyond willpower. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 44, e37. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X20000722.

Southwick, D. A., Tsay, C. J., & Duckworth, A. L. (2021). Grit at work. Research in Organizational Behavior, 39(2019), 100126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.riob.2020.100126.

Duckworth, A. L., & Gross, J. J. (2020). Behavior change. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 161, 39-49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.09.002.

Galla, B. M., Tsukayama, E., Yu, A., Park, D., & Duckworth, A. L. (2020). The mindful adolescent: Developmental changes in nonreactivity to inner experiences and its association with emotional well-being. Developmental Psychology, 56(2), 350-363. doi:10.1037/dev0000877.

Gardner, M., Hutt, S. J., Kamentz, D., Duckworth, A. L. & D’Mello, S. K. (2020). How does high school extracurricular participation predict bachelor’s degree attainment? It is complicated. Journal of Research on Adolescence. doi:10.1111/jora.12557.

Kirgios, E. L., Mandel, G. H., Park, Y., Milkman, K. L., Gromet, D. M., Kay, J. S., & Duckworth, A. L. (2020). Teaching temptation bundling to boost exercise: A field experiment. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 161, 20-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.09.003.

Mehr, K. S., Geiser, A. E., Milkman, K. L., & Duckworth, A. L. (2020). Copy-paste prompts: A new nudge to promote goal achievement. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 5(3), 329-334. doi:10.1086/708880.

Park, D., Tsukayama, E., Yu, A., & Duckworth, A. L. (2020). The development of grit and growth mindset in adolescence. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 198, 104889. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104889.

Porter, T., Molina, D. C., Blackwell, L., Roberts, S., Quirk, A., Duckworth, A. L., & Trzesniewski, K. (2020). Measuring mastery behaviors at scale: The Persistence, Effort, Resilience and Challenge-Seeking task (PERC). Journal of Learning Analytics, 7(1), 5-18. doi:10.18608/jla.2020.71.2.

Zamarro, G., Nichols, M., Duckworth, A. L., & D’Mello, S. K. (2020). Validation of survey effort measures of grit and self-control in a sample of high school students. PLOS One, 15(7), e0235396. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0235396.

Chang, E. H., Milkman, K. L. Gromet, D. M., Rebele, R. W., Massey, C., Duckworth, A. L., & Grant, A. M. (2019). The mixed effects of online diversity training. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(16), 7778-7783. doi:10.1073/pnas.1816076116.

Duckworth, A. L. (2019). Self-reports spur self-reflection. MIT Sloan Management Review.

Duckworth, A. L. (2019). Using psychological science to help children thrive. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 14(1), 34-36.

Duckworth, A. L., Milkman, K. L., & Laibson, D. (2019). Beyond willpower: Strategies for reducing failures of self-control. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(3), 102-129.

Duckworth, A. L., Quirk, A. Gallop, R., Hoyle, R. H., Kelly, D. R., & Matthews, M. D. (2019). Cognitive and noncognitive predictors of success. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(47), 23499-23504. doi:10.1073/pnas.1910510116.

Duckworth, A. L., Taxer, J. Eskreis-Winkler, L., Galla, B. M., & Gross, J. J. (2019). Self-control and academic achievement. Annual Review of Psychology, 70, 373-399.

Eskreis-Winkler, L., Milkman, K. L., Gromet, D. M., & Duckworth, A. L. (2019). A large-scale field experiment shows giving advice improves academic outcomes for the advisor. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(30), 14808-14810. doi:110.1073/pnas.1908779116.

Grenell, A., Prager, E. O., Schaefer, C., Kross, E., Duckworth, A. L., & Carlson, S. M. (2019). Individual differences in the effectiveness of self-distancing for young children’s emotion regulation. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 37(1), 84-100. doi:10.1111/bjdp.12259.

Grenell, A., White, R. E., Prager, E. O., Schaefer, C., Kross, E., Duckworth, A. L., Carlson, S. M. (2019). Experimental paradigm for measuring the effects of self-distancing in young children. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 145, e59056. doi:10.3791/59056.

Yeager, D. S., Hanselman, P., Walton, G. M., Murray, J. S., Crosnoe, R., Muller, C., … Dweck, C. S. (2019). A national experiment reveals where a growth mindset improves achievement. Nature, 573, 364-369. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1466-y.

Duckworth, A. L., & Meindl, P. (2018). Clarifying character education. Journal of Character Education, 14(2), 37-39.

Eskreis-Winkler, L., Fishbach, A., & Duckworth, A. L. (2018). Dear Abby: Should I give advice or receive it?. Psychological Science, (29)11, 1797-1806. doi:10.1177/0956797618795472.

Lee, T.H., & Duckworth, A. L. (2018). Organizational grit. Harvard Business Review, 96(5), 98-105.

Meindl, P., Yu, A., Galla, B. M., Quirk, A., Haeck, C., Goyer, J. P., ... & Duckworth, A. L. (2018). A brief behavioral measure of frustration tolerance predicts academic achievement immediately and two years later. Emotion, 19(6), 1081-1092. doi:10.1037/emo0000492.

Park, D., Yu, A., Baelen, R. N., Tsukayama, E., Duckworth, A. L. (2018). Fostering grit: Perceived school goal-structure predicts growth in grit and grades. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 55, 120-128. doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2018.09.007.

Park, D., Yu, A., Metz, S. E., Tsukayama, E., Crum, A., & Duckworth, A. L. (2018). Beliefs about stress attenuate the relation among adverse life events, perceived distress, and self-control. Child Development, 89(6), 2059-2069.

Peña, P. & Duckworth, A. (2018). The effects of relative and absolute age in the measurement of grit from 9th to 12th grade. Economics of Education Review, 66, 183–190.

Robinson, C. D., Pons G., Duckworth, A. L., & Rogers, T. (2018). Some middle school students want behavior commitment devices (but take-up does not affect their behavior). Frontiers in Psychology. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00206.

White, R. E., Kuehn, M. M., Duckworth, A. L., Kross, E., & Ayduk, Ö. (2018). Focusing on the future from afar: Self-distancing from future stressors facilitates adaptive coping. Emotion. doi:10.1037/emo0000491.

Wiese, C. W., Tay, L., Duckworth, A. L., D’Mello, S., Kuykendall, L., Hofmann, W., ... & Vohs, K. D. (2018). Too much of a good thing? Exploring the inverted-U relationship between self-control and happiness. Journal of Personality, (86)3, 380-396.

D’Mello, S. K., Dieterle, E., & Duckworth, A. L. (2017). Advanced, Analytic, Automated (AAA) measurement of engagement during learning. Educational Psychologist, 52(2), 104–123.

Duckworth, A. L. & Seligman, M. (2017). The science and practice of self-control. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12(5), 715–718.

Park, D., Tsukayama, E., Goodwin, G. P., Patrick, S., & Duckworth, A. L. (2017). A tripartite taxonomy of character: Evidence for intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intellectual competencies in children. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 48, 16-27.

Duckworth, A. L., Gendler, T. S., & Gross, J. J. (2016). Situational strategies for self-control. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(1), 35-55.

Duckworth, A. L., White, R. E., Matteucci, A. J., Shearer, A., & Gross, J. J. (2016). A stitch in time: Strategic self-control in high school and college students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(3), 329-341.

Eskreis-Winkler, L., Gross, J. J., & Duckworth, A. L. (2016). Grit: Sustained self-regulation in the service of superordinate goals. In K. D. Vohs & R. F. Baumeister (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory and applications (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford.

Eskreis-Winkler, L., Shulman, E. P., Young, V., Tsukayama, E., Brunwasser, S. M. & Duckworth, A. L. (2016). Using wise interventions to motivate deliberate practice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111(5), 728-744.

Galla, B. M., Baelen, R. N., Duckworth, A. L., & Baime, M. J. (2016). Mindfulness, meet self-regulation: Boosting out-of-class meditation practice with brief action plans. Motivation Science 2(4), 220–237.

White, R. E., Prager, E. O., Schaefer, C., Kross, E., Duckworth, A. L., & Carlson, S. M. (2016). The “Batman Effect”: Improving perseverance in young children. Child Development, 88(5), 1563-1571. doi:0.1111/cdev.12695.

Yeager, D. S., Walton, G. M., Brady, S. T., Akcinar, E. N., Paunesku, D., Keane, L., . . . Dweck, C. S. (2016). Teaching a lay theory before college narrows achievement gaps at scale. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(24), E3341–E3348.

Duckworth, A. L., & Eskreis-Winkler, L. (2015). Grit. In J. D. Wright (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences (2nd ed., pp. 397-401). Oxford, UK: Elsevier.

Duckworth, A. L., & Steinberg, L. (2015). Unpacking self-control. Child Development Perspectives, 9(1), 32-37.

Duckworth, A. L., & Tsukayama, E. (2015). Domain-specificity in self-control. In C. Miller, R. M. Furr, A. Knobel, & W. Fleeson (Eds.), Character: New directions from philosophy, psychology, and theology (pp. 393-411). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Duckworth, A. L., & Yeager, D. S. (2015). Measurement matters: Assessing personal qualities other than cognitive ability for educational purposes. Educational Researcher, 44(4), 237-251.

Duckworth, A. L., Eichstaedt, J., & Ungar, L. (2015). The mechanics of human achievement. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 9(7), 359-369.

Duckworth, A. L., Shulman, E. P., Mastronarde, A. J., Patrick, S. D., Zhang, J., & Druckman, J. (2015). Will not want: Self-control rather than motivation explains the female advantage in report card grades. Learning and Individual Differences, 39, 13-23.

Galla, B. M., & Duckworth, A. L. (2015). More than resisting temptation: Beneficial habits mediate the relationship between self-control and positive life outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109(3), 508-525.

Kaufman, S. B., & Duckworth, A. L. (2015). World-class expertise: A developmental model. WIREs: Cognitive Science. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1365.

West, M. R., Kraft, M. A., Finn, A. S., Martin, R., Duckworth, A. L., Gabrieli, C. F. O., & Gabrieli. J. D. E. (2015). Promise and paradox: Measuring students’ non-cognitive skills and the impact of schooling. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 38(1), 148-170.

White, R. E., Kross, E., & Duckworth, A. L. (2015). Spontaneous self-distancing and adaptive self-reflection across adolescence. Child Development, 86(4), 1272–1281.

Duckworth, A. L., Gendler, T. S, & Gross, J. J. (2014). Self-control in school-age children. Educational Psychologist, 49(3), 199-217.

Duckworth, A., & Gross, J. J. (2014). Self-control and grit: Related but separable determinants of success. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(5), 319-325.

Eisenberg, N., Duckworth, A. L., Spinrad, T. L., & Valiente, C. (2014). Conscientiousness: Origins in childhood?. Developmental Psychology, 50(5), 1331-1349. doi:10.1037/a0030977.

Eskreis-Winkler, L., Duckworth, A. L., Shulman, E., & Beal, S. (2014). The grit effect: Predicting retention in the military, the workplace, school and marriage. Frontiers in Psychology, 5(36), 1-12. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00036.

Eskreis-Winkler, L., Shulman, E. P., Beal, S. & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). Survivor mission: Why those who survive have a drive to thrive at work. Journal of Positive Psychology, 9(3), 209-218.

Friedman, H. S., Kern, M. L., Hampson, S. E., & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). A new lifespan approach to conscientiousness and health: Combining the pieces of the causal puzzle. Developmental Psychology, 50(5), 1377-1389.

Galla, B. M., Plummer, B. D., White, R., Meketon, D., D'Mello, S. K., & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). The Academic Diligence Task (ADT): Assessing individual differences in effort on tedious but important schoolwork. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 39(4), 314-325.

Plummer, B. D., Galla, B. M., Finn, A., Patrick, S. D., Meketon, D., Leonard, J., ... & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). A behind-the-scenes guide to school-based research. Mind, Brain, and Education, 8(1), 15-20.

Robertson-Kraft, C. & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). True grit: Trait-level perseverance and passion for long-term goals predicts effectiveness and retention among novice teachers. Teachers College Record, 116(3), 1-27.

Von Culin, K., Tsukayama, E. & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). Unpacking grit: Motivational correlates of perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Positive Psychology, 9(4), 306-312.

Yeager, D. S., Henderson, M., Paunesku, D., Walton, G., Spitzer, B., D’Mello, S., & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). Boring but important: A self-transcendent purpose for learning fosters academic self-regulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107(4), 559-580.

Duckworth, A. L. (2013). Is it really self-control: A critical analysis of the “Marshmallow Test.”. Society of Personality and Social Psychology Connections. Retrieved from https://spsptalks.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/is-it-really-self-control-a-critical-analysis-of-the-marshmallow-test/.

Duckworth, A. L. & Eskreis-Winkler, L. (2013). True grit. The Observer, 26(4), 1-3.

Duckworth, A. L., & Carlson, S. M. (2013). Self-regulation and school success. In B.W. Sokol, F.M.E. Grouzet, & U. Müller (Eds.), Self-regulation and autonomy: Social and developmental dimensions of human conduct (pp. 208-230). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Duckworth, A. L., Kim, B., & Tsukayama, E. (2013). Life stress impairs self-control in early adolescence. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 3(608), 1-12.

Duckworth, A. L., Kirby, T., Gollwitzer, A., & Oettingen, G. (2013). From fantasy to action: Mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII) improves academic performance in children. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4(6), 745-753.

Duckworth, A. L., Tsukayama, E., & Kirby, T. (2013). Is it really self-control? Examining the predictive power of the delay of gratification task. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(7), 843-855.

Kern, P., Duckworth, A. L., Urzua, S., Loeber, R., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., & Lynam, D. (2013). Do as you’re told! Facets of agreeableness and early adult outcomes for inner-city boys. Journal of Research in Personality, 47(6), 795-799.

Kurzban, R., Duckworth, A. L., Kable, J. W., & Myers, J. (2013). An opportunity cost model of subjective effort and task performance. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36(6), 661-726.

Tsukayama, E., Duckworth, A. L., & Kim, B. (2013). Domain-specific impulsivity in school-age children. Developmental Science, 16(6), 879-893.

Duckworth, A. L. & Allred, K. M. (2012). Temperament in the classroom. In R. L. Shiner & M. Zentner (Eds.), Handbook of temperament (pp. 627-644). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Duckworth, A. L., Quinn, P., Tsukayama, E. (2012). What No Child Left Behind leaves behind: The roles of IQ and self-control in predicting standardized achievement test scores and report card grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104(2), 439-451.

Duckworth, A. L., Weir, D., Tsukayama, E., & Kwok, D. (2012). Who does well in life? Conscientious adults excel in both objective and subjective success. Frontiers in Psychology, 3(356), 1-8.

Tsukayama, E., Duckworth, A. L., & Kim, B. (2012). Resisting everything except temptation: Evidence and an explanation for domain-specific impulsivity. European Journal of Personality, 26(3), 318-334. doi:10.1002/per.841.

Almlund, M., Duckworth, A. L., Heckman, J., & Kautz, T. (2011). Personality psychology and economics. In E.A. Hanushek, S. Machin & L. Woessmann (Eds.), Handbook of the economics of education (Vol. 4., pp. 1-181). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier.

Duckworth, A. L. (2011). The significance of self-control. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(7), 2639-2640.

Duckworth, A. L. & Kern, M. L. (2011). A meta-analysis of the convergent validity of self-control measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 45(3), 259-268.

Duckworth, A. L., Kirby, T., Tsukayama, E., Berstein, H., Ericsson, K. (2011). Deliberate practice spells success: Why grittier competitors triumph at the National Spelling Bee. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2, 174-181.

Duckworth, A. L., Quinn, P. D., Lynam, D. R., Loeber, R., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (2011). Role of test motivation in intelligence testing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(19), 7716-7720.